Syrians vote in election to grant al-Assad new term
WINDOW DRESSING: Syria’s opposition and Western countries dismissed the vote as a sham, as the al-Assad family has been ruling the country for the past 50 years
AP, DAMASCUS
Syrians in government-held areas of the war-torn country yesterday headed to polling stations to vote in a presidential election set to give Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a fourth seven-year term.
The vote is the second presidential election since the country’s conflict began 10 years ago and has been dismissed as a sham by the opposition and Western countries.
Two other candidates are running for the country’s top post, which has been held by members of the al-Assad family for five decades.
Northern Syria Security Dynamics and the Refugee Crisis Getty/Delil Souleiman/AFP
A boy watches a Turkish military convoy drive past a Syrian village on the outskirts of Tal Abyad along the border with Turkey, September 2019.
Sam Hananel
Introduction and summary
The Syrian conflict, now entering its second decade, has cost more than 500,000 lives and forced 13 million Syrian civilians to flee their homes more than half the prewar population including 6.6 million who are refugees outside the country.
1 This profound humanitarian crisis also threatens the stability of Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey. Moreover, the out-migration has contributed to the growth of right-wing populism across Europe and severely affected the project of European unity.